Chapter 11
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 11
‘There’s still so much left to show her.’
Ga-hyeon thought to himself as he looked around the mansion.
He wasn't particularly busy, but he felt a prickle of irritation, as if he were wasting his time for no reason.
“Um...”
Just then, So-ya called out to him cautiously.
“You’re very busy, aren’t you?”
“Huh...?”
“Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule. I’ll look around by myself from here, so please, go ahead, Young Master.”
“No, I’m not...”
Ga-hyeon was flustered. It wasn't that he was busy; he was just being lazy.
However, there was no reason to refuse her offer. He could just agree that he was busy, as she suggested, and leave.
Yet, for some reason, he found himself hesitating.
“I... I am busy, but...”
“I’m really okay. Please, go on.”
So-ya urged him again with a faint smile.
“O-oh. Alright then.”
Feeling a strange prick of guilt, Ga-hyeon added unnecessarily, “I’ll send someone to you, so stay here in the garden. Don’t go wandering off alone and get lost.”
“Yes, Young Master. Thank you so much.”
When So-ya replied with a bright smile, Ga-hyeon paused for a moment before finally turning away.
Left alone after sending Ga-hyeon off, So-ya let out a long sigh.
“Phew...”
In truth, So-ya knew. It wasn't that he was busy; it was that he didn't like her and found her a nuisance.
Being quick-witted, So-ya had realized that Ga-hyeon didn't think much of her.
Of course, she didn't resent him for it.
She simply felt burdened that a noble young master had to go through such trouble because of her.
It was then.
“Huh...?”
“Eek...!”
Her eyes locked with those of the Third Young Lord, Ga-yul, who had been hiding in the bushes and peeking at her. She had no idea how long he’d been there.
“Agh!”
Startled, Ga-yul tumbled over with a loud crash.
“A-are you alright?”
So-ya’s eyes went wide with surprise as she hurried toward him.
Ga-yul scrambled to his feet and shouted, “D-don’t come any closer, Cotton Ball!”
“But you just got hurt...” So-ya murmured, pointing at Ga-yul’s knee.
“Gasp! Blood...!”
Ga-yul belatedly noticed his knee was scraped and bleeding through a tear in his pants, and he jumped in shock.
Then, glaring at So-ya, he yelled, “I-I am Baek Ga-yul, the third son of the great White Tiger Clan! Only a... a Cotton Ball like you would cry over a scratch like this!”
His face flushed red all the way to his neck, Ga-yul let out a shrill shout and bolted away.
So-ya blinked as she watched Ga-yul’s retreating figure vanish in an instant.
‘Is he angry?’
She thought back to Ga-yul shouting with his face turning beet-red.
It seemed possible.
People usually got angry when they saw her.
They got angry even when she did nothing, so it made sense that the Third Young Master would be very angry, considering he had tripped and hurt himself because of her.
“Still, he should treat that wound quickly...”
The corners of So-ya’s eyes drooped sadly.
After a short wait, Yeon-jeong and San-ho, having received Ga-hyeon’s message, came to fetch her.
“Young Lady! Oh, here you are.”
“Honestly, the Second Young Master is too much. Leaving such a young lady all alone just because he’s busy.”
“No, he isn't. He was very kind and showed me around,” So-ya said, defending Ga-hyeon against the grumbling maids.
“Our sweet Young Lady. Shall we head back now?”
“Yes.”
As So-ya walked back, holding San-ho’s hand in one and Yeon-jeong’s in the other, San-ho noticed the dejected droop in So-ya’s eyes.
“Did something happen, Young Lady?”
“Um, well, actually...”
So-ya cautiously recounted what had happened moments ago.
“The youngest Young Master tripped and got hurt because of me. I wanted to help him, but...”
However, unlike the serious So-ya, Yeon-jeong and San-ho burst into laughter and waved it off.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. The youngest Young Master trips and gets hurt every single day.”
“But...”
So-ya remembered when Lady Ri-ri had pushed her down recently.
Her knee had been scraped and bleeding, and it had hurt so much.
“Our little Cotton Ball has such a kind heart. But you really don’t need to worry. The youngest Young Master is a tiger, after all!”
Yeon-jeong raised her hands like paws and made a mock-ferocious face, letting out a little “Roar!” as she imitated a tiger.
“That’s why I’m more worried, because he’s a tiger...”
So-ya’s tiny mumble was so quiet that no one heard her.
* * *
“Ouch! Ow, that hurts!”
“My, you’re being quite the crybaby today, Young Master.”
A boy in his mid-teens said as he applied medicine to the young master’s wound.
This poor boy, serving the reckless youngest master, was Su-ri, a beastkin of the Indigo Wolf Clan and San-ho’s younger brother.
“It really hurts!”
Ga-yul shouted, tears welling in his eyes.
“That’s why I told you to sit still and wait. I would have come to carry you on my back. Why did you run all the way here on a hurt leg?”
“I-I couldn't show her such a weak side!” Ga-yul huffed in response.
It was all because of that girl who looked as small, white, and soft as a cotton ball.
He hadn't wanted to look weak in front of her, so he’d pushed himself to run on his injured knee.
“By the way, that girl—the Cotton Ball. She doesn't seem like a tiger, so what is she?”
“Who knows? Since she’s small, maybe a mouse?”
“But mice aren't quiet like her. I heard mice are really noisy.”
Ga-yul pouted and shook his head before suddenly asking, “Maybe she’s a puppy? I heard puppies have sparkling eyes and droopy corners. Like this.”
“But dog beastkin are naturally quite healthy. Didn't that Cotton Ball lady seem a bit fragile?”
“Mmm...”
Ga-yul and Su-ri busily speculated about So-ya’s identity.
“Then what? A hedgehog? A squirrel? A deer?”
Ga-yul listed every animal he knew, one by one.
“She’s too round to be a hedgehog. And there are no white families among the squirrel beastkin. Deer are much lankier.”
“Ugh...”
“Maybe she isn't a wild animal at all. The Clan Head did just pick her up from outside. Anyway, you mustn't run for a while until this heals. Do you under—Young Master? Young Master, where are you going!”
As soon as the wound was treated, Ga-yul sprang up and scurried outside.
“I’m busy!”
“You can’t, Young Master! It’s time to go to the training grounds...! Oh, boy...”
Su-ri pressed a hand to his forehead as the Third Young Master vanished like the wind in an instant.
* * *
Sa-eon’s office.
“They say the youngest Young Master has forgotten all about the training grounds and is spending the whole day following the Cotton Ball lady around.”
Sa-eon, who had been flipping through documents with a bored expression, looked up at Jeok Yeong’s report.
“It seems Yul has taken a liking to the Cotton Ball as well,” Sa-eon said with a smirk.
“Shouldn't you say something to him, Clan Head? Given the youngest Young Master’s temperament, he won't listen to anyone else.”
“Leave him be.”
Rising from his seat, Sa-eon walked toward the window.
Down below, outside the window, he could see Ga-yul and So-ya.
It was quite cute to see the wary boy trailing behind a Cotton Ball even smaller than himself.
“It’s a nice sight. A small child following an even smaller one,” Sa-eon murmured with a languid face as he looked out.
It was then.
“But, Clan Head,” Jeok Yeong called out to him cautiously.
“About that Cotton Ball lady. She isn't really... a hidden illegitimate child or anything like that, right? Is she?”
“What?”
Sa-eon’s face filled with bewilderment.
“Well, it’s suspicious. You left for the palace early in the morning to meet His Highness the Prince, and then you suddenly returned in the middle of the night with a random girl. Besides, that room at the west end is...”
“She isn't,” Sa-eon denied flatly, knitting his brows.
An illegitimate child?
What an absurd misunderstanding.
“Then what is she? You couldn't have really just picked her up off the street.”
“...”
Sa-eon knew everyone was curious about So-ya.
It was understandable, given that he’d ended his explanation with the brief remark that he’d "stolen her on the way."
Some took it as a funny joke, but it wasn't a joke.
He himself didn't know how else to explain So-ya.
Because, in truth, he really had happened upon her by chance and stolen her.
‘No. Was it truly by chance?’
Suddenly, the look in Sa-eon’s eyes hardened.